The Truck
by evieeden
Summary: After Edwards tampers with Bella's truck, she has to decide how much more she's going to put up with. Advent story written for 14th December.


**Happy 14****th**** December everyone. Today's advent story is another slightly angst-filled one, but I promise you that the next few over the weekend are full of happiness and joy so bear with me.**

**Thank you to lels who beta'd this story. I hope you all like it and as always, I still don't own Twilight.**

**The Truck**

"Hey, did you do this to my truck?!"

I stared at Edward in disbelief as he stilled, his face going blank for a split second. It was all the confirmation that I needed.

"You have to know," he began, "that your safety is my priority."

I felt my eyes begin to well up, the ugly tears that only seemed to come when I was angry or frustrated threatened to spill over. I refused to let them fall.

"I just removed the battery. I'll put it back again tomorrow before school."

I could only shake my head.

Did Edward seriously think that putting my battery back in tomorrow morning would make up for him taking it out in the first place?

I knew that he was ridiculously obsessed with my human safety, more so it seemed since we had got back from Italy, but this was the last straw.

I had to see Jake. I needed to with a ferociousness that I had never felt before. It was like my skin itched without him there. And Edward was stopping me from getting to the only person who could make me feel better about it.

He sat upright and looked out the window towards the forest. "I'll understand if you don't keep your window open tonight."

It was with that final statement that I lost my temper. How dare he sit there and play the martyr when he was really just a dictator? Sure, I had agreed to spend the rest of my life with him, but I wasn't prepared for that to be an option if I was just going to end locked away in my house, guarded from the rest of the world by him.

I wanted to get out there and explore things. I wanted to feel like I was invincible, not fragile. I certainly didn't want to become one of those women you see in a movie on Lifetime who ends up beaten and cowed by her partner until she can't leave the house by herself. The worst part was I could already see it happening.

And I had to put a stop to it.

"No."

"No?" he repeated.

I looked over at him, forcing myself to meet his eyes and not be swayed.

"No," I said again. "I won't be opening my window for you again tonight, or any other night for that matter. You need to leave, Edward. You're not welcome here anymore."

For the first time ever, he looked completely shocked. "What?"

I shook my head. "This can't go on anymore. I won't just sit here and let you tell me what I can and can't do anymore. So you need to go away and you need to leave me alone...permanently."

"You're breaking up with me?" His tone was incredulous.

"Yes." My voice wavered a little but I managed to stay firm.

He was completely bewildered. "But why?"

"Why? Because you think that doing stuff like this is okay. Because this is not the first time something like this has happened and I was stupid to let it go on happening and allow you to think that it was acceptable. You can't keep going behind my back and making decision just to 'keep me safe'. I can't go on like this."

Edward reached out faster than I could see and grabbed my hand. I jumped at the abrupt movement.

"You can't do this, Bella. You can't leave me. I can change."

His pleading was horrible to listen to, but I couldn't give in, no matter how much I wanted to.

"I don't think you can, Edward. I think you might want to and it might even work out for a while, but I think it's in your nature to want to take care of someone."

He threw my hand away from him and leaned back.

"So that's what you want, huh? Someone who won't care about keeping you safe?"

"Not at all," I scowled at him. "Of course I want someone who'll look after me, but I also want someone who will let me take care of them. I want someone who'll let me stand on my own two feet and let me make mistakes."

A sudden realisation struck me.

"I want someone who doesn't see my being human as a weakness."

A bitter smile twisted his face. "I don't see your humanity as a weakness -"

"You clearly do," I interrupted him. "Otherwise you wouldn't have taken the battery out of my truck tonight. You wouldn't need to do things that like if only you trusted that I could look after myself."

"Bella, you've been in almost constant danger since you arrived in Forks. How can you say that you don't need protection?"he tried to argue.

This was going to be hard to say. "Yes, but Edward, a lot of that danger has been linked with you and your family's presence here. I'm not saying I don't love you all, but I managed to not kill myself perfectly well when I was in Phoenix."

He looked horrified.

I rushed to find a way to tell him that I didn't blame him for everything that had happened to me in the past.

"Plus, maybe, I don't know. Maybe I need to learn to pay attention more and look outside my bubble. You never know how much improvement there might be to my balance if I stop daydreaming for once."

I wasn't sure how convincing my jokey tone was, but there was some truth to my words.

Since arriving in Forks, I had been so completely wrapped up in Edward and the Cullens, almost to the extent where nothing else mattered. I was only just realising just how detrimental that narrow focus had been to me.

I guess in some respects, I could say that Edward leaving me had done me some good after all. I was finally growing up and learning what I was and wasn't prepared to tolerate from a relationship.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, with only the sound of the wind whistling around the truck for company.

"Is this your final decision then?" Edward eventually asked. "That you don't want to be with me?"

The question ripped something apart deep down inside of me, but I held firm.

"I'm sorry."

He nodded his head and his mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "Not as sorry as I am."

I watched him warily. This was a strange Edward, one I had only seen right at the beginning of our relationship when he was trying to scare me away from him. I wasn't really sure what to expect.

His face had changed into the bland mask he wore when he didn't want me to guess how he was feeling.

"If you'll permit the family to visit, I'm sure they'll all want to say goodbye before we move on."

That made me frown. "Are you moving on again? Already?"

He actually rolled his eyes at me.

"Bella, we came back to Forks for you. There's no point in staying if we're not together."

My anger flared back up again. "So you're just going to leave again?! Edward doesn't get what he wants so the whole family has to uproot itself again."

He gritted his teeth. I was still on a rant.

"You're such a child sometimes. It's pathetic. Every time you don't get what you want everyone else has to suffer for it. Just grow up, Edward -"

He slammed his hands against the dashboard of the cab suddenly, cutting off my words and shocking me silent.

"_Enough!_"

I stared at him in terror. He looked one step away from throttling me.

"You... you need to leave, Edward," I managed to stutter out. "Now."

He took a deep breath, visibly trying to regain control.

"Bella... Love..."

"Now!" I practically shouted it at him. "Just go!"

Casting one last longing look back at me, he vanished from my truck as quickly and silently as he had appeared.

My chest felt tight.

I inhaled sharply, holding my breath until my lungs burned and I could breathe out without screaming all my rage and pain out.

I took another breath, and then another.

With each inhalation, the tightness in my chest disappeared and with one last deep breath, I burst into tears.

It was all over.

And the surprising part was that I was the one who had ended it.

I buried my hands in my hair and shook my head. Had I honestly just told Edward, the man I thought was the love of my life that I wanted him to leave?

I couldn't do anything except cry, loud, ugly sobs that shook my body and made my nose run.

I don't know how long I stayed there until there was a rap on the truck window, which made me jump. Charlie peered in through the glass at me.

"Bella?" he called. "Bella, honey?"

Sniffling pathetically, I wiped my face on my sleeve and motioned at him to move back away from the door. I slid out of the truck and stood in front of him, my head bowed.

Charlie awkwardly rested his hands on my shoulders.

"What's going on, Bells? You tell me that you're going to see Jake, but you've been sat out here for the last twenty minutes and now you're crying. What's going on, honey?"

I couldn't think of what to tell him.

"My truck broke," I finally wailed. "I came out here and I couldn't get it to start."

I burst into a fresh round of sobs and Charlie looked utterly bemused by my over-reaction.

"Well, that's okay, honey. I can take a look and see what's wrong in the morning when it's lighter and then we'll have it fixed in no time. You can go and see Jake tomorrow when that's done. Or, if you really want to see him tonight, you can always borrow my truck?"

I looked up at my father. His moustache was bristling uncomfortably and he looked like he was ready to bolt – he never did well with emotional displays – but he was doing the best he could to calm me down and I felt a sudden rush of love for him.

I decided to let him in a little.

"Edward was here as well."

The moustache twitched again, only this time it was in irritation. "Oh, really? I thought he'd gone home for the evening." He eyed me suspiciously and I struggled not to fidget guiltily. Hopefully my next sentence would wipe any suspicion out of his mind.

"I broke up with him."

"You...? Really?" I could well understand his disbelief.

I nodded, hating the way my stomach flipped every time I thought about it.

"Yeah." I struggled to explain my feelings. "It was just too much all of a sudden. And I think I changed a lot since he left before. We're just not the same people anymore and things that didn't bother me in the past...do now," I finished rather lamely.

My father looked like he fighting off the urge of cheer. "So you broke up with him?"

"Yes." My lower lip trembled and I could almost feel Charlie's panic beginning to rise again.

"Aw, Bells."

He reached out and pulled me into a hug. I clung to him tightly. It had been years since I'd hugged Charlie like this; I was surprised to find that I liked the feeling that my dad would protect me and look after me no matter what.

"Come on." He leaned around me and closed the door to my truck, taking the keys out of my hand to lock it. Charlie led me back inside the house and sat me on the couch, retreating to the kitchen where he emerged a few minutes later with a cup of hot chocolate.

"Err, here you go. Something to warm you up." He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

I smiled warmly up at him. At that moment I wanted to cry again, but happy tears this time.

"Thanks, Dad."

He nodded and then sat down in his armchair, flicking the TV on. I sat with him in silence, sipping my drink and allowing the hot drink to warm both my hands and my soul.

After about ten minutes, Charlie turned back to me.

"Did you still want to go and see Jacob tonight?" he asked. "I can drive you down if you're not feeling up for it."

I thought about it.

I didn't know if going and seeing Jacob right now was the best thing to do.

I missed him lots and I knew that he probably wouldn't be coming around with Billy anytime soon, but I also knew if I went to visit now and he found out about me breaking up with Edward, he would spend the whole evening crowing about my ex-boyfriend's downfall. Even though I had been the one to instigate the break up, I wasn't sure that I was in the mood to be happy about it just yet.

"Maybe I'll go and see him this weekend."

Charlie nodded thoughtfully. "I think that might be for the best. Give yourself some space first, Bells, to get your head sorted."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Good advice. Thanks, Dad."

He offered me a grin at that and I smiled back.

I would deal with the fall out with Edward and Jacob tomorrow. For now, I just needed to sit here and watch baseball with the one man I knew had my best interests at heart.

My truck, and my relationships, would just have to be fixed tomorrow.


End file.
